Jennifer Berne

Jennifer Berne is an award‑winning children’s author known for picture book biographies that introduce young readers to remarkable thinkers and explorers. Her works include On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein, Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau, On Wings of Words: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson, and Look Up with Me: Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Life Among the Stars, as well as the fiction picture book Calvin Can’t Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie. Her books have received multiple starred reviews and honors, including selection as New York Times Editors’ Choice, NPR’s Great Reads, Horn Book’s “Best Nonfiction Books,” and the Eric Carle Museum’s “Best of the Best,” and have been translated into numerous languages.

Berne grew up in New York City, where she was active in dance and theater, studied art and design, and worked for Andy Warhol at his studio, The Factory. She later built a successful career as an advertising copywriter before turning to children’s publishing, writing for Nick Jr. Magazine and then focusing on books about science, creativity, and the natural world. She lives in a house she designed in the rolling hills of Columbia County, New York, and spends summers sailing with her husband along the coast of Maine.